Children's Home run by Future In Mind Limited in Staffordshire

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people enjoy warm and trusting relationships with highly committed staff.  Staff use highly effective therapeutic parenting techniques, which address young people’s complex emotional and behavioural needs.  Young people respond to the sense of security provided by firm boundaries, good routines and ongoing therapeutic work by staff.  Staff seek the views wishes and feelings of young people and effectively involve them in their own care planning and behaviour management.  Young people have fun with staff and are able to explore childhood experiences that are in keeping with their emotional rather than chronological ages.  Staff are highly trained and skilled in safeguarding and help young people to understand how to keep themselves safe.  Young people make progress in their education and behaviour and staff support them through difficult periods in their lives to maintain that progress.  The registered manager is highly committed and experienced, both

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The children's home provision is good because:

supporting and challenging her staff in order to provide the best care for young people.  The registered manager provides an efficient and effective service and strives to drive up standards with regular reviews, planning and the involvement of staff and young people.  Staffing issues over the summer were appropriately addressed by the registered manager in a child focused way.

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s' home is registered to care for up to two children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties aged 6-17 years. 

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26/03/2015 CH - Interim Sustained effectiveness

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good

Young people enjoy a welcoming, comfortable and well-maintained home. The one young person in placement has been able to influence the decoration and furnishings and personalise his own room. The garden provides a pleasant place to ride his bike and relax in nice weather. Highly skilled and trained staff provide him with emotional and physical warmth, consistent therapeutic parenting and firm boundaries. The resulting sense of security enables him to make progress in all areas of his development.

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good

He has fun with staff, enjoying good-natured banter and jokes with them, going on shopping trips and outings and playing games. He particularly enjoys playing football, dodgeball, basketball and going swimming with staff. Since the last inspection, he has become increasingly involved in community activities, has attended a ‘bush craft’ workshop and is joining a boxing club. This has supported his physical and social development.

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good

The young person has complex emotional needs, which make it difficult for him to trust relationships. In the summer, he experienced the loss of some of the staff whom he had come to trust. This had a negative effect on his sense of security and behaviour and he took a backward step. However, he is now starting to form positive relationships with new staff and to begin to manage his own behaviour again. He recently felt able to invite the staff to his school concert and sang in front of them, which he had not felt confident to do previously. He has created a wall chart with photographs of the staff and information about their likes and dislikes. He also ‘grades’ them according to how good he feels they are each week. This has led to a great sense of fun as staff see themselves going up or down the ‘ league table’ and has opened up a valuable avenue of communication for him with the staff team.

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good

The young person is able to express his views, wishes and feelings on a daily basis and staff listen to him and give him clear feedback. Staff have offered him an independent advocate. Staff help him to be aware of his progress and he earns rewards for his good behaviour and completing tasks like tidying his room. He is also closely involved in discussing and contributing to his behaviour management plans. This gives him the understanding and confidence to start to manage his own emotions and behaviour. He makes suggestions about how staff can help him by, for example, giving him space at certain times or different incentives. He also often likes to write on his key work notes himself and is encouraged to sign the records of work undertaken with him. The young person enjoys a warm and trusting relationship with the therapist who works for the home and with whom he has weekly sessions. He has responded

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good

positively to this support, along with the therapeutic parenting and now finds it easier to listen to advice and guidance and to feel reassured. He is, for example, taking care of the new furniture in his bedroom and taking pride in some of his personal items. Incidents of his distressed or frustrated behaviour have reduced.

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good

The young person attends school regularly, which he really enjoys and where he is making good progress. He particularly likes art at school and is able to continue this interest at home to help him relax. Staff identify and meet his physical and emotional health needs.

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good

Highly trained, skilled and vigilant staff keep the young person safe. Face to face safeguarding training and challenging supervision ensures that staff sustain their knowledge in keeping young people safe.

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good

When the young person’s most trusted staff left in the summer, his behaviour became very challenging and the home responded by providing 2:1 staffing to ensure his safety. This staffing level reduced as he settled and gained trust in new staff. Staff training enables them to respond quickly to incidents of him going missing or absent without permission. They follow the homes' policy, procedures and his up to date risk assessment in detail, to ensure that he was located and returned safely. They accompany him when he is out at the park, for example, remaining, nearby but not highly visible. This enables him to make friends and integrate socially, whilst being kept safe. Consequently, the young person has not been missing since July or been absent without permission since September. This demonstrates a significant reduction in behaviours that place him at risk of harm.

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good

Staff are up do date with all safeguarding training including the use of physical intervention and skilfully use distraction techniques to ensure that restraint is always a last resort. Staff are very child focused and take all steps necessary to avoid criminalising a young person. If there is damage to the property or violence towards staff, they invite the police in to give effective guidance and advice both to them and the young person. This approach has led to a reduction in violent behaviour and to the risk of harm to the young person and staff. Staff and the registered manager have in-depth understanding of the reasons behind his behaviour and use strategies to increase his attachment and trust in staff. This helps him feel calmer and more secure and able to listen to staff and learn how to keep himself safe.

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good

Staff have skilfully adapted the home environment for safety, using soft furnishings and decorating the walls with stickers chosen by the young person, rather than with pictures in frames and ornaments.

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good

Staff do not currently assess the young person as being at risk of child sexual exploitation, but they acknowledge his vulnerability. They use the locality assessment and maintain close links with the police to identify any potential child sexual exploitation risks.

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good

The registered manager is currently completing her level 5 qualification. She holds qualifications in psychology, therapy, leadership and supervision and has several years’ experience of managing a residential setting. She is currently also the registered manager of another local home owned by the company.

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good

Staff provide very positive feedback regarding the registered manager. They express great respect for her and feel that she both supports and challenges them for the benefit of the young people. They feel valued by her and are constantly encouraged to contribute ideas for the running of the home and work with young people. One member said, ‘She is brilliant and I can't fault her.' Another staff member commented that she is one of the most committed managers he has worked with.

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good

Staff describe the registered manager as being very ‘hands on’ and say she is always available. She is very child focused and has in-depth understanding of the reasons behind the emotional and behavioural difficulties exhibited by young people. Her staff demonstrate confidence in communicating the ethos of the home and the benefits of therapeutic parents for young people. They are reflective and analytical and show great commitment to the young person.

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good

The registered manager worked hard to mitigate some of the effects of a number of staff leaving in the summer. Each left for personal reasons and not through any dissatisfaction with the service. She chose to employ a small number of agency staff, and staff from her other home, in order to try to maintain as much consistency as possible for the young person. The registered manager produced rotas several weeks in advance in order to ensure that she could have the specific agency staff she wanted. Permanent staff at the home also willingly covered extra shifts. The registered manager acknowledges that the loss of a number of staff members has been a significant and worrying issue for the young person and has impacted negatively on his behaviour. Her focus has therefore been to establish a new staff team as quickly as possible whilst ensuring that she chose the best people to meet his needs.

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good

In view of the need to employ agency staff, the registered manager has developed an induction programme for any agency work used in the future, in order to ensure consistency of approach by staff in the home and to formalise the discussions that she already has with agency staff.

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good

The registered manager is aware of the strengths and areas for development in her team and addresses these in structured and thorough supervision and training. She regularly tests staff knowledge during supervision and reviews their practice. Staff benefit from additional therapeutic training, provided by the psychotherapist who works with the young person. He provides staff with the necessary understanding and skills to deliver effective therapeutic parenting, which meets the needs of each young person. Staff are very enthusiastic about and interested in the therapy and confidently advocate its importance for young people. Staff also enjoy learning from each other for the benefit of young people, engaging in team discussions about practice and feeling able to challenge one another.

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good

The registered manager responded positively to the recommendation in the last inspection to improve the location assessment and risk assessment of the impact of the location if a young person goes missing. She immediately reviewed and updated these documents.

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good

The registered manager ensures that recording systems are clear and efficient and provide evidence of staff practice and young people’s progress. Documentation is child friendly and she ensures feedback from young people, staff, parents and professionals are included in her review of quality of care. She has a quarterly development plan, which she produces with the full involvement of staff and the young person. This helps to drive up standards and currently includes a focus on the promotion of equality and diversity.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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